Matthews: Third-party voters are 'idiots'

11/6/12 12:33 PM EST

Hard to tell if the A block of MSNBC's 12 p.m. hour today was "Now With Alex Wagner" or "Hardball with Chris Matthews."

Matthews was a guest at Wagner's table today but largely controlled the conversation as he railed against people who either weren't intending to vote or intended to vote for a third-party candidate.

"If you don't vote, you're an idiot," Matthews yelled at the camera. "If you don't vote, I don't want to talk to you. And if you vote for one of these numbskull third or fourth party candidates like Gary Johnson or Jill Stein and say, 'Oh, I was so surprised at what happened. ...' No! You shouldn't be! Because idiots like you voted for third- and fourt-party candidates, and they don't know how this system works. You have twochoices."

Matthews has many fans on the left, but he probably just lost the Green Party.

The larger issue on the table: Should cable news hosts be admonishing people based on how they vote?